Master’s Degree Programme in Business Management and Entrepreneurship
Admission criteria 2012

IMPORTANT: The Master’s Degree Programme in Business Management and Entrepreneurship is NOT included in the Finnish Joint Application. One must apply to this Master’s programme with a separate application form.

APPLICATION PERIOD

Next application period is 1 August - 28 September 2012.
Studies start in January 2013.

ELIGIBILITY

Those applying to pursue studies leading to a Master’s degree are required to have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration awarded by a university of applied sciences or an equivalent higher education degree. The applicant must have completed at least 40 ECTS credits of business administration studies in higher education. The applicants are required to have work experience of at least three years in the relevant field after graduation. Relevant field can mean either the field now being applied for or the field in which the previous higher education degree was completed. SAMK shall also accept work experience acquired after the completion of an earlier Finnish vocational college diploma or higher vocational diploma (in Finnish: opisto- tai ammatillisen korkea-asteen tutkinto; the diploma may have been completed in any field of study).

Part-time work shall be converted into full-time work according to the principle that 150 hours or 20 full-length working days (at least 7 hours per day) equal one month. The work experience does not have to be continuous nor acquired from a single employer. Only work experience attested by the employer's certificate shall be accepted. Entrepreneurship shall be accepted on the condition that the applicant produces a certificate that he or she is or has been covered by the YEL or MYEL pension insurance scheme.

The required work experience, that will be considered in the application process, should be acquired by 31 December 2012.

STUDENT SELECTION & ENTRANCE EXAMINATION

Student selection among all applicants shall be based on the entrance examination only. The maximum number of points awarded in the entrance examination is 100, and the applicant must obtain at least 40 points in the entrance examination in order to qualify for admission. Students are selected in the order of applicants' entrance examination points.

The applicants’ English language skills shall be evaluated in the language test included in the entrance examination on a pass/fail basis. An applicant who has failed the language test is withdrawn from admission.

All eligible applicants shall receive an invitation to the entrance examination held on Friday 2 November 2012 in Rauma, Finland. No other location/date is considered as an acceptable exam venue/date. The invitations will be sent by 12 October 2012.

ADMISSION PROCEDURES

The applicant is required to send following documents to the Admissions Office of SAMK by the end of the application period (28 September 2012 at 4:15 p.m.):

• the copy of the higher education degree certificate, which the applicant is using in the application
• an official Finnish, Swedish or English translation of the degree certificate, if the language of the certificate is other than Finnish, Swedish or English (the translation must bear the translator's signature and stamp)
• copies of the work certificates, which show at least three years of work excerience after completing the higher education degree and
• a proof of applicant's English language skills, if required (see below).

The original documents will checked in the beginning of studies. Do not send original degree certificates by mail. The admission is conditional until the original documents have been checked.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR NON-EU/EEA CITIZENS

An applicant, who is not a citizen of an European Union/European Economic Area country and who has not completed his/her higher education degree in Finland is required to present proof of his or her English language skills by the end of the application period (28 September 2012 at 4:15 p.m.). The results of following English language tests at mentioned level are accepted:

• IELTS score academic level 6.0
• TOEFL score 550 paper-based test / 213 computer-based test / 79-80 Internet-based test
• Cambridge ESOL’s Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)
• Cambridge ESOL’s Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) level C
• Pearson test of English (General test level 4 and Academic 51) or
• Level 4 in English in the Finnish general language examination (www.oph.fi > Tutkintopalvelut > Yleiset kielitutkinnot).

Both TOEFL and IELTS test results are valid for two years. The Finnish general language examination does not have a set period of validity. TOEFL score results are accepted only when delivered directly from the Educational Testing Service (ETS).

In addition, primary and secondary school education in English completed in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, or a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree completed in English in one of these countries or in an EU/EEA country, is also accepted as a demonstration of sufficient English language skills.